LYMAN RAY PARADIS
February 14, 1928 - December 25, 2013
Born on Saint Valentine’s Day in 1928 near Jacquet River, New Brunswick, Lyman thrived on a childhood of outdoor activity, namely, fishing and hunting. In pursuit of post-war economic prospects, much of Lyman’s family migrated through the mining towns of northern Quebec and Ontario where there was an expanse of wilderness for hunting and fishing. As an ambitious and enterprising young man, Lyman set off for industrial southern Ontario where he met and wed Mildred Cassidy in 1950. They resided primarily in Listowel with Lyman forever involved in various sidelines ranging from owning a gas station to a junior partnership in a car dealership to commercial fishing on the west coast. Virtually all of Lyman’s family eventually followed him to southern Ontario, including his parents who settled on a property neighbouring the gas station. Lyman buried his beloved father in 1973 after the seventy-four-year-old gentleman overdid it pushing a car out of a snow bank. In 1976 it was Lyman doing the following and he joined his sister, Lois, and brother-in-law, Herrick (Vince) Vincent, on Vancouver Island where the salmon fishing is legendary. Lyman and Mildred settled in Campbell River - The Salmon Capital of the World - for twenty very good, prosperous years for the two as a couple.
When the “salmon capital’s” fishing declined, Lyman shifted his recreation and fishing to the new home ports of Winter Harbour and Koprino on Quatsino Sound, the north-most fiord on the outside of Vancouver Island. His eldest, devoted son, Raymond, has chaperoned Lyman and pals for three or four halibut fishing trips each summer for the past decade or more. In recent years, Lyman took up gardening and under the tutelage of his brother-in-law, Vince, he even developed a bit of a green thumb. No matter where Lyman was in his journey, he often found himself at a card table once or twice a week. Throughout, Lyman was gainfully employed as a successful car salesman, always providing amply for his family and the budget for outdoor endeavours. Midway through his working days in Campbell River, Lyman switched sides from the GM dealer, Arthur and Chant, to Steve Marshall’s team at Ford; the switch came just about the time when Fords were becoming better than GM! These past 37 years in Campbell River were when Lyman really thrived and they were his best. After this most recent snowfall, nearing 86 years of age, Lyman went out to clear the drive way of snow. He didn’t realize or concede it until almost a day and a half later, but he had had a major heart attack. Even then, wild horses had to drag him to the hospital where he spent three to four pretty good days, some of the time flirting with nurses and even with plans for fishing in the coming summer; and a helpful, young friend from his “Lottery Pool” visited the hospital and had to be tediously schooled in just exactly how and what tickets to buy for the upcoming 649 draw. Enthusiasm and Hope ran eternal in this man. He passed away peacefully at the end of the afternoon on Christmas day.
LYMAN PARADIS, FEBRUARY 14, 1928 TO DECEMBER 25, 2013,
REST IN PEACE.
CELEBRATION OF LIFE. In the summer, following the scattering of ashes there will be a picnic. Please enquire for details via prparadis@hotmail.com or 604-779-1673. (No funeral service at Lyman’s request.)
KRISTI KING. Utmost gratitude is expressed to the young friend who rescued the deceased from pending death. The deceased and his family owe these last, immeasurably precious days to her.
CAMPBELL RIVER HOSPITAL. Many thanks from the family for the superb care from nurses and all staff.
SURVIVED BY. The diseased is survived by his immediate family: Mildred Paradis of Formosa, Ontario, and their four children, Raymond (Campbell River and Port Hardy), Dolores (Kitchener, Ont.), Norma (New Westminster), and Phillip (Vancouver); and three grandchildren, Terry (Port Hardy), Ryoju (Vancouver), and Michelle and her son, Natange’, Lyman’s first great grandson (Guelph, Ont.); and his four siblings, Edith Rowney (Everett, Ont.), Eunice Fallet (St. Catherines, Ont.), Lois Vincent and brother-in-law, Herrick Vincent (Comox), and Lyndon Paradis (Kleinburg, Ont.). Predeceased by his friend Grace Carlos.